Interesting, it can make schizophrenia or OCD worse. Smoking anything, even too much incense, will give you cancer and wreck your cardiovascular system.

It is used in some traditional Ayur Vedic medicines. But they incinerate it first to get rid of it's toxic properties. The remaining ash or bhasma is what is in them.

Pot was never an important herbal medicine in India. There are better medicines and herbs with fewer negative side effects. Wu Cha Seng is much better for nausea for instance. Ginseng is better for appetite. Recreational use is something different. Can't people just admit they like smoking up? I drink the occasional glass of wine. I get it. The same game was played with alcohol years ago.

Lhug-Pa wrote:As for ingesting Cannabis, I think it could possibly be worked with in a Shamanistic way (empowering with Mantras, etc.); that is if we are sincere, as opposed to using that as an excuse to indulge in it recreationally.

The potent effects of hydroponic pot can certainly be used for religious or ritualistic purposes.

You can in Ontario Canada. But you need a clean criminal record to get a medicinal growers permit. Most medicinal users have switched back to illicit. They felt the legal weed they were getting was schwag. Hopefully quality will improve. The Zetas don't need anymore business.

Lhug-Pa wrote:As for ingesting Cannabis, I think it could possibly be worked with in a Shamanistic way (empowering with Mantras, etc.); that is if we are sincere, as opposed to using that as an excuse to indulge in it recreationally.

The potent effects of hydroponic pot can certainly be used for religious or ritualistic purposes.

Nemo wrote:We could also decriminalize it and stop pretending it's this super amazing cure all medicine. Let's just say it is as medicinal as my glass of red wine after dinner for my arthritis. (Pom Wonderful works just as well by the way. Don't tell my wife.)

It's not a cure all but it has been shown to be a bit (a lot) more effective than wine, etc. for a number of different ailments. For example, glaucoma, epilepsy, MS, AIDS, cancer, ALS, etc. The fact that it is illegal for doctors to prescribe to people is completely ridiculous. Of course there are 'THC pills" actually prescribed to people AKA Marinol, it's basically synthetic THC pills, one of the active ingredients in Cannabis. I know this guy who took them a while ago. He said the pills cost him $800 a month...because he didn't have insurance. He also did not live in a state where it is legal. It quite nonsensical to force someone to pay $800 a month for something they can grow in their garden for free. Unless of course, you are the one selling the pills!

It's also quite ridiculous for the us government to continue to assert that is has no medical benefit, when at the same time, they have approved synthetic versions of it for doctors to prescribe! Ok I will stop ranting now,

One should not kill any living being, nor cause it to be killed, nor should one incite any other to kill. Do never injure any being, whether strong or weak, in this entire universe!

Marijuana seems to enhance the "special effects" one can experience in meditation. Because buddhist meditation generally dismisses such experiences as distracting side-effects, marijuana serves no useful purpose in buddhism. If anything, its effects interfere with proper meditation practice, and these can persist for many years after the last high. I speak from my own experience.

Last edited by dharmagoat on Sat Jun 16, 2012 2:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Oh yes, and if you smoke dope, even to celebrate a friend's success, you will be sent to a hell realm where you will be deprived of your genitalia and have nasty black-skinned, orange-eyed demons thrust red-hot iron rods into your lungs, roasting you from the inside out...

In my opinion, there is no problem with many psychedelics in and of themselves unless a person acts with heedlessness because of them. They don't help much with meditation either. (Then again there are some Vajrayana practitioners in the Ngak'phang lineage who would suggest otherwise.) Marijuana, along with other psychedelics, can recreate some experiences gained hrough meditation and absorption in the jhanas, such as loss of ego and self, and insight into emptiness, but this is never lasting. At most you get 8 hours out of magic mushrooms. The biggest problem is when people equate psychedelic experiences gained through the use of substances like marijuana with enlightened experiences. There simply is no real connection between, say, LSD and actual kensho. However I see no problem with occasionally using marijuana for enjoyment. It doesn't, in my opinion, go against the fifth precept, especially if done in moderation, with mindfulness and right intent.

In terms of medicinal use, it is much healthier to vaporize Cannabis or to eat it than to smoke it. Smoking too much Cannabis can cause emphesema.

Last edited by Ikkyu on Sun Jun 17, 2012 2:05 am, edited 2 times in total.

"Nothing can be known, not even this."-- Arcesilaus (but I'm not sure)

dharmagoat wrote:Oh yes, and if you smoke dope, even to celebrate a friend's success, you will be sent to a hell realm where you will be deprived of your genitalia and have nasty black-skinned, orange-eyed demons thrust red-hot iron rods into your lungs, roasting you from the inside out...

You can't be serious.

"Nothing can be known, not even this."-- Arcesilaus (but I'm not sure)

Nemo wrote:Interesting, it can make schizophrenia or OCD worse. Smoking anything, even too much incense, will give you cancer and wreck your cardiovascular system.

It is used in some traditional Ayur Vedic medicines. But they incinerate it first to get rid of it's toxic properties. The remaining ash or bhasma is what is in them.

Pot was never an important herbal medicine in India. There are better medicines and herbs with fewer negative side effects. Wu Cha Seng is much better for nausea for instance. Ginseng is better for appetite. Recreational use is something different. Can't people just admit they like smoking up? I drink the occasional glass of wine. I get it. The same game was played with alcohol years ago.

I think the key phrase here is "too much".

"Nothing can be known, not even this."-- Arcesilaus (but I'm not sure)